. >> harris: if congress cannot work out a deal, tax hikes, spending cuts will take effect on tuesday of next week. president obama says he is willing to give congress a little time to come up with a compromise but his patience is limited well as is the rest of the country's. ed henry with the news live at the white house. ed, first, a dramatic meeting earlier today at the white house. and then this ultimatum from the president. >> that's right, harris. it was a dramatic exchange. what i'm told by a senior white house official is that the president basically told john boehner and mitch mcconnell the republican leaders in the room here for this meeting that he wants an up or down vote on his scaled back bill to try to avoid this fiscal cliff. and he basically turned on them and said so what's your response? what's your move? the next move is yours. and then i'm told that mitch mcconnell and harry reid, the democratic leader in the senate jumped in before john boehner really got a chance to fully respond and say, look, we will take the ball and try to pass a bipartisan bill in the senat